This is a powerful kick ass 11-percenter that is all the reasons I used to love dogfish. There's also a reason I quit loving dogfish -- a little too strong and clever -- and this is also a threat here. I'm going to have to revisit this one (poor me) but I think I really like it. Chicory, maple thickness yet quite easy to drink and get drunk.

Appearance is medium brown, just a light head and a bit of lacing. The aroma is wood (slightly smoky), and maple. The taste is maple, smoky, vanilla, and hoppy. It's not particularly bitter, but there is a definite hop character in there. Some reviewers have called this a cross between a pale ale and a barleywine. Maybe so, but to me, it's a heck of a lot closer to barleywine territory than to a pale ale. The 11% ABV is noticeable. All these flavors blend beautifully, making this one a real treat.

Appearance: Pours a deep brownish amber with a moderate amount of bubbles. Slight finger of off white head that quickly fades away.

Smell: A sweet and fairly fruity aroma with a scent of oak and vanilla. Barley malt with hints of toffee, caramel, and biscuit with some peat and yeast. Good scent of oak and maple syrup. Fruit hints of apple along with dark fruit hints of raisin, fig, cherry, grapes, and dates. Sweet hints of brown sugar. A pretty nice complex aroma.

Taste: Like it smells, a sweet and fruity taste with notes of oak, vanilla, and dark fruit. Barley malt with notes of toffee, caramel, biscuit, smoke, and nuts with some peat. Notes of oak, tobacco, and leather. Sweet taste of maple syrup, vanilla, and brown sugar. Fruit notes of apple along with dark cherry, fig, raisin, grape, and dates. A pretty good taste.

Mouthfeel: Full bodied with a moderate amount of carbonation. Creamy, slick, and syrupy. Alcohol heat is minimal.

Overall: A very good complex ale. Good blend of oak, syrup, and dark fruit flavors.

Undated bottle into pint glass. Pour a hazy brown with a thin off-white head. Initial impression is sweet vanilla, raisin, smoke, caramel, maple...there's a lot going on here. Mouthfeel is somewhat syrupy and very, very smooth. Slight alcohol burn, but all things considered it's pretty well hidden for 11%. Sweet, boozy finish.
I got a 4-pack of these for Father's Day - might celler the other three and see what they're like in a year or so.

Enjoyed poured into a pint glass from a 12 oz bottle that was bottled on January 22, 2016. Poured on June 15, 2016.

Look:
Poured a cloudy golden blood orange color, with an off-white 1/4" head with medium lacing. Very satisfying color and appearance.

Smell:
Malty and lightly hoppy, caramel and oak like from a distance. Smelled fantastic.

Taste:
Very, very good taste. The taste of alcohol is not extremely prevalent - instead, you are met with a vanilla/oak-y, malty taste that hits the front of the pallet with a slightly sharp touch that quickly recedes, revealing a complex yet smooth, refined flavor. Malty, toffee-like. Very rich flavor that leaves you wanting more.

Feel:
Very smooth and refreshing, not extraordinarily filling. Think the mouth-feel of a good slightly syrup-y pale. Satisfying and thirst quenching. A beer that is best enjoyed cold.

Overall:
Get me another one, stat! This is an A+ beer that everyone needs to try!

Look- Pours a copper color with a thin ring like lace that retains but eventually recedes.
Smell- Sweet, syrupy, buttery, and perhaps a slight whiff of chocolate.
Taste- Malt forward, maple syrup, alcohol finish but not overly boozy. In the mid palate, the hops provides a subtle bitterness that balances it out a bit. Interesting taste.
Feel- Medium bodied to full, a bit syrupy in feel. High ABV well masked. Nice alcohol warming.
An interesting brew. Very English in feel. Strong but drinkable.

Enjoyed from the 12 oz bottle in a snifter. This beefy hybrid barely wine pours a deep and lightly cloudy copper color with a moderate head of off white foam that settles to a thick rich ring and subtle pool with moderate lacing. Nose of rich caramel malts, raisins, booze, and wine touched oak notes. Flavors exceed the nose with caramel dipped raisins and light wine and oak notes on the front and middle of the taste, warming booze hits on the sides and rear with notes of brandy and oak finishing with an earthy yeast and light grassy hops flavor that is pleasing on the aftertaste. Excellent mouth feel for the style, warming and substantial with a sweet and creamy caramel aftertaste lightly touched with molasses. Flavors are the greater of the sum of their parts to say the least. Excellent barley wine.

WORTHY!
So worthy that I gave a friend at work one and he went out and bought a 4 pack...THAT says something! (Cheers Randy!)

A: Over two fingers of slightly tan head. Clear, medium-dark red-orange. Yellow in the dimple. Perpetually rising bubble spout in the center. Decent lacing and sheeting. The top/meniscus has a caramel tone, when viewed from underneath.

S: A good balance of nutty, malty, and a lighter hopping. Notes of tree bark, wood, leaves, and sap.

T/MF: Hopping is more up front on the palate, but still moderate. Piney, earthy. Sharply sweet tree sap. Lightly medicinal.

Got this with a big purchase at Bine & Vine on Feb. 26. This was the last beer left to drink. Didn’t know much about it, but liked what it said on the bottle. Not necessarily a big fan of Dogfish Head, but willing to give this one a shot.

Poured an auburn, copper color with two fingers of fizzy, khaki-tan head. Lots of small bubbles coming to the top of the glass. Average wet, foamy lacing on the sides of the glass. Very good retention on the top all the way down. (Sight - 3.75)

On tap at Rattle n Hum, NYC.Yum...smoked barleywine. Two of my favorite vices in one glass. And with ample on top...Yum.

Just goes to show you two can be a bit much, evenwith ample syrup on top.

The underlying barleywine is great but there is too much smoke to consider it a compliment.

I saw a TVshow once wher a criminal tried to cover up a crime by setting fire to the room. This makes me feel like the crime is in reverse. They tried to cover the barleywine success with smoke. Too much smoke. And then the fire department shows up with maple syrup.

I paid $21 for a four pack of this, so needless to say I had very high expectations off the bat. Whenever I see primadonna extravagantly priced beers like this on the shelves, I usually stay away since I've had so many disappointments in the past. One night I was wandering around the beerhouse wondering what to purchase 5 minutes before closing time, I couldn't make up my mind and decided to pick a beer that I normally wouldn't try. I wagered Dogfish Head was a rather safe bet.

So I'm thinking good thoughts and trying to be as positive and as optimistic as possible on the drive home so as not to resent the beer for it's hefty price tag even before I try it. I was rather skeptical and harbored a bit of buyer's remorse at the time. But before I knew it I was working my way into my second bottle and realized how easily the first 12'ozs went down, I soon grew to appreciate what exactly this beer is about.

Are you in the mood for a silky, boozy, pale ale/barleywine hybrid? Great! Because this is one!
I won't lie, I had to open two of these because the first went down so fast I couldn't type quickly enough before it was finished to give it an accurate review.
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Look: Pours a reddish copper orange, with a khaki colored head. Relatively large, slow drifting bubbles float up towards the brim of the glass to form a dense three fingered foam. It fades quickly leaving a fine film of lacing.

Smell: Bourbon - but it's from a combination of other scents. Estery, solvent oak wood, maple sugar, a hint of juniper and peat smoke. A touch of red honeycrisp apples. Mild toasted oatmeal and caramel. To top it off the smell of fresh spring water from a babbling brook highlights it all and lingers in your nostrils on the back of the aroma.

Taste: Taste this with your nose and sip it slowly. As delicious and easy to put down as this is, this is one you want to dwell on so you can appreciate the flavors and so you don't get hammered, because it WILL get you there.

This is like a pale ale version of a bourbon breakfast stout, it's remarkable. Unfortunately it's also quite hard to describe what exactly I'm tasting since it goes down so easily.

There's this attractive alcoholic nip that underlays the entire tasting experience. From its warmth, plums, blueberries, raisins and candied cherries emerge and mingle with the taste of caramel, maple syrup and mild fudge.

Notes of red wine, probably from the combination of the 11% abv and red/deep blue fruit flavors.

The aftertaste is smoky and woody with notes of cinnamon and rosewater perfume (probably from the juniper) but it's never exacerbating dry or phenolic.

Feel: Oddly easy to put down as I mentioned. The yeast provides a really nice texture to complement the effervescence. It has an alcoholic, Tanquerey type finish - and as dry as it is it doesn't leave you reaching for a glass of water.

12 fl oz bottle
L: Gorgeous ruby tinged dark amber color, but poured without any head at all
S: Malty and fruity with a slight booziness
T: Vanilla, smoky woodiness (not tannic) and a pervading raisiny caramel flavor
F: Syrupy but with good offsetting effervescence
O: To be sipped in front of a roaring fire in winter

First thing noticed was a vinous character to the aroma. Further takes revealed more complexity and other character, but the vinous quality remains. Also some in the flavor too.
This is a fairly fresh bottle 12/22/15. I'm curious on what aging might do with this.
The head is really slow growing and seems to get strong with time instead of diminishing. Nice dripping lacing. Kinda' cloudy and darker amber with orange to brown.
Nice rich flavor and good fullness in the mouth. Maple is soft, but there. And the oak and vanilla are mild too, but still able to pick them up. I like the blending instead of dominate quality of these additions. Nice soft and lingering dryness on the finish. Hopping is mild and the bitterness is quite soft, but I like it.
Wow a lot going on here. So much that each take is an adventure. I'm not stunned or overwhelmed, but interesting and holding pleasing qualities.
Thanks to cjgiant for the adventure that is this ale.

Pours a lush copper color with over a finger of head. The nose has the essence of something sweet but it's hard to place exactly. The oak hits upfront in the flavor profile and there is plenty of malty goodness to go around. There is also a hint of smokiness. The finish is semi-dry to dry with a trace of alcohol.

Like many DFH offerings, this is unique and hard to relegate to a single style.

T/F: Smoky toasted malts hit the palate first... with dark fruits and caramel. Toffee and almost tangy (the juniper berry?). Thick and creamy on the mouthfeel... sticky with moderate carbonation... almost sweet at the finish with a clean aftertaste. Very much clings to the tongue.

O: Wow... this is just one odd beer with a ridiculous montage of flavors that all come together to work quite nicely. I'm not a huge fan of smoked beers but the smoky notes are subtle and really work with the semi-sweet and tangy thing they've got going here. Can't think of another beer quite like it... typical for the folks at Dogfish Head!

L: Deep red, quite hazy. When held up to some light you can see the beer is kind of clear but has tons of small particles in it which make it look hazy. Very little head.

S: Dark fruit, berry, a little boozy, a little oakey.

T: Smoky, with strong peat flavors. Rich maltiness. Has a little bit of spice kick to it as well (not sure how to describe but similar to Founder's Old Curmudgeon). Tastes a little metallic but that might just be me.